Attachment for dinner plates



March 14, 1961 C. F. ROMEI ATTACHMENT FOR DINNER PLATES Filed Sept. 22, 1959 INVENTOR. CARL F ROME! ATTORNEYS United States Patent ATTACHMENT FOR DINNER PLATES Carl F. Romei, 336 Randall St., Eugene, Oreg.

Filed Sept. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 841,596

1 Claim. (Cl. 22022) The present invention relates to an attachment for dinner plates for dividing the dinner plate into a plurality of sectors.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an attachment for dinner plates consisting of a partition removably secured to the dinner plate for dividing the plate into a plurality of sectors.

Another object of the invention is to provide a partition of the class described above removably secured to the dinner plate by a suction cup.

A further object of the invention is to provide a dinner plate attachment of the class described above which is inexpensive to manufacture, simple to attach and which efiectively prevents mixing of the food on the dinner plate.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the following specification when considered in light of the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the invention shown attached to a dinner plate;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the invention; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary top plan view of a modified form of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, the reference numeral F indicates generally a dinner plate attachment constructed in accordance with the invention.

The dinner plate attachment F is used in conjunction with a dinner plate, indicated generally at D, as can be seen in Figures 1 through 4. The dinner plate attachment F consists of a relatively thin elongated strip of material 10 having a circular suction cup 11 secured thereto by a threaded screw 12 threaded into the strip of material 10, as best illustrated in Figure 3.

In operating the dinner plate attachment F, it is positioned on the relatively flat central circular portion 13 of the dinner plate D with the bottom edge 14 of the attachment F in engagement with the upper'surface 15 of the flat circular central portion 13.

The attachment F extends from the approximate center of the dinner plate D radially outwardly and as illustrated in Figure 1 in dotted lines, a plurality of the attachments F may be used simultaneously to divide the dinner plate D into a plurality of separate sectors. The attachment F can be used as a barrier to force food on to a fork or other eating implement, preventing the food from moving over the surface of the dish away from the eater.

In Figure 6 a modified form of the invention is illustrated wherein the dinner plate attachment F is provided with a suction cup 11' having a square top plan form instead of the circular form of the conventional suction cup shown in the preferred embodiment of the invention.

The dinner plate attachment F can be formed of plastic and from various other kinds of materials and can be made in difierent dimensions for use with different size dinner plates D. If desired, the attachment F can extend completely across the dinner plate D, dividing the dinner plate D into two sectors.

Having thus described the preferred embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed:

A dinner plate attachment comprising an elongated relatively thin upright strip of material, a suction cup for securing said strip of material in transversely extending relation on the upper surface of a dinner plate, and means connecting said suction cup to said strip of material, said last-mentioned means comprising an elongated threaded bolt fixedly secured to said suction cup and extending upwardly therefrom, a downwardly flared boss integral with said strip of material and having a threaded aperture therein in which said bolt engages, said strip of material having its bottom edge engaging the upper surface of the dinner plate, and being of a transverse wedge shaped form with the thickest portion uppermost and generally parallel to the lower edge, said lower edge including an oflset portion adjacent one end extending upwardly to a height to accommodate said suction cup with the remainder of the lower edge in engagement with the dinner plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 867,086 Sullivan Sept. 24, 1907 1,290,186 Held Jan. 7, 1919 2,034,030 Gaugler Mar. 17, 1936 2,110,356 Cunningham Mar. 8, 1938 2,546,800 Thiac et al Mar. 27, 1951 2,588,990 Sanchez Mar. 1'1, 1952 

